Trail Gear: Jessica Yellin's Cord-Keeper

Buses. Weather. Breaking news. Buses again. It can be grueling to be political road warrior—or so it looks to us. Each week this fall, we'll ask traveling campaign reporters to share with us the secret weapons that help them do their job.

"Before I discovered my hiker's pouch, I used to leave a trail of power cords wherever I travelled. During the 2008 campaign my blackberry chargers were abandoned in the Marriott Courtyards of every battleground state in America. Then one day during the the 2010 midterm elections I was freezing cold—I'm from LA; doing liveshots in Colorado winter doesn't suit me—and went to a sporting goods store to stock up on cold-weather gear. That's when I spotted the hiker's pouch. At least I think it's a hiker's pouch. It's part mesh, zips open, fully collapsable, lightweight, and blue so I can see it inside my bag. Best of all, it's see-through so I can always count how many chargers are inside before I roll out of a campaign workspace or hotel room. There should be five total: two blackberry chargers, one for my iPad, one for the Kindle, and one for my personal iPhone. Thanks to the pouch, I'm no longer donating my power cords to swing-state hotels."